Dream On (Aerosmith song)
"Dream On" is the first single by Aerosmith from their 1973 debut album, Aerosmith.1 Written by lead singer Steven Tyler, this blues-influenced power ballad became their first major hit. Released in June 1973, it peaked at #59 nationally but hit big in the band's native Boston, where on the less commercial top 40 station WBZ-FM it was the #1 single of the year (#5 for the year on WRKO-AM and #16 on WMEX-AM). The album version of "Dream On" (4:28 as opposed to the 3:25 1973 45rpm edit) was used for a 1976 single re-release, which climbed to #6 on Billboard's national chart in the first half of the year. This song was first played live in Willimantic, CT at the Shaboo Inn. edit] Live performances Long a concert staple, the song's piano part has been played live by Tyler. The band has also played "Dream On" with an orchestra on a couple of occasions. One of these performances, conducted by Michael Kamen, is included on the soundtrack for the movie Last Action Hero. In the early 1990s, the band performed the song live with an orchestra for MTV's 10th Anniversary. A coinciding video directed by Marty Callner was also created. Additionally, in 2006, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry performed the song live with the Boston Pops Orchestra at their Fourth of July spectacular. On September 19, 2006, Aerosmith dedicated the song to captured Israeli soldier Ehud Goldwasser. On September 22, 2007, at a concert in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Aerosmith dedicated the song to one of their fans, Monica Massaro, who had been murdered earlier that year. edit] Appearances on other albums The song has appeared on almost every Aerosmith greatest hits and live compilation, including: *''Live! Bootleg'' *''Greatest Hits'' *''Classics Live I'' *''A Little South of Sanity'' *''Young Lust: The Aerosmith Anthology'' *''O, Yeah! Ultimate Aerosmith Hits'' *''Devil's Got a New Disguise'' *''Music From The Original Motion Picture "Last Action Hero"'' It also appears on both of the band's box sets. edit] Achievements The song "Dream On" is part of the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list.2 It is also ranked #172 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Most people consider it Aerosmith's signature song. edit] Samples and covers *The band HolyHell played "Dream On" in July 2008 in Germany and was sung by Maria Breon who gave a full scale throaty rendition. *It has been covered by Ronnie James Dio (vocals) with Yngwie Malmsteen in 1999. *Danny Gokey sang this song on American Idol Season 8 in 2009 during the Top 4 round. He received negative reviews from the judges, and was also mocked in many media outlets for an overlong, ear-splitting scream at the end of the song. 345 *The song was sampled by rap artist Eminem for his song "Sing for the Moment" from his 2002 album The Eminem Show. Joe Perry also played the guitar solo on the track. *The song was re-made by Andru Donalds as the cover song for his album of the same name. *"Dream On" was covered by Greg X. Volz in 1988 on his album Come Out Fighting. *The song was also sampled by rap artist Slim Thug for the song "Rockstar", which was originally intended for his album, Already Platinum. *"Dream On" was covered by the Razor and Tie recording artist Kelly Sweet. It is available on both her self-titled EP and her full length album We Are One. Her version also appeared on the show Desperate Housewives in the episode which aired 1/3/10. *"Dream On" has also been covered live by Tori Amos, and is included on The Official Bootlegs album recorded at the Bank of America Pavilion in Boston, Massachusetts on August 21, 2005. *"Dream On" has been covered by Bermuda Triangle Band on their 1977 Bermuda Triangle album on Winter Solstice Records and on the 2006 reissue of that album. *"Dream On" was covered by The Mission on their album Children. *"Dream On" was also covered by Fisher on their Uppers & Downers dual-disc album. The cover version performed by Fisher was featured in the series-finale episode of the NBC drama Windfall. *Brooke White covered "Dream On" on her 2006 album Songs From the Attic, released before she became a contestant on American Idol. *The song was also sampled by rap artist The Game for his song "Never Be Friends" which appears on a mixtape by the Nu Jerzey Devil. *Michael Angelo Batio also made an instrumental cover of this song in his album Hands Without Shadows. *It has also been covered numerous times by pop singer Anastacia. *"Dream On" was covered by the post-grunge band Breaking Benjamin during a show at the York's Fair in September, 2008. Additionally, singer Ben Burnley has stated that their upcoming album will contain a song influenced by "Dream On". Also it is covered at their recent shows. *blessthefall will be covering "Dream On" on the upcoming compilation cover album Punk Goes Classic Rock in the Punk Goes... series. *The television show Glee featured Neil Patrick Harris and Matthew Morrison singing a duet cover of the version for the episode "Dream On". edit] In other media *This song was used in Buick's commercials, corresponding with their slogan, "Dream Up". *This song was also used in ESPN SportsCenter's "Images of the Century", a video montage about memorable moments in sports history from the 20th century. The video montage was played at the end of the final installment of SportsCenter in 1999. *The song made an appearance as the closing theme to the Disney movie Miracle, as well as the trailer for Miracle. *A live, orchestrated version of "Dream On" was also used in the movie Last Action Hero. *It was used in the opening cut scene for the Tecmo video game Dead or Alive Ultimate. *It is sampled in "Boulevard of Broken Songs" in the mash-up album American Edit. *It appears in the film The Virgin Suicides. *It was used in a video tribute to Ken Griffey, Jr. in his return to Seattle on June 22, 2007. *It was used in a video tribute to Mike Modano upon becoming the top American point scorer in NHL history during the 2006-2007 season. *In the film Be Cool, Edie Athens says to Chili Palmer, as they are driving by an advertisement for an Aerosmith concert, "Tell me 'Dream On' is not the greatest rock 'n' roll song you've ever heard!". *A re-recorded version of the song appears in Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. It was one of the four songs that Aerosmith re-recorded for the game. It also appears in the demo for the game. **Before Guitar Hero: Aerosmith was released, the song appeared as free downloadable content for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock to promote the release of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. The song was available from February 16, 2008 to February 18, 2008. *"Dream On" appeared in Episode 49 of Cold Case, sung as Detective Rush witnessed the victim and his then-girlfriend as they were at the time of his death, driving into the distance in a vintage car. *"Dream On" was played on HBO's Countdown for the Oscar De La Hoya-Stephen Forbes fight in May 2008 *"Dream On" was performed by Neil Patrick Harris and Matthew Morrison in an episode of Glee directed by Joss Whedon, titled "Dream On" *"Dream On" is covered by Blessthefall on the compilation album Punk Goes Classic Rock